


Little Finger

by RunningInHeels (TheXWoman)



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Cookies, Christmas Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Everybody loves Trixie Decker, F/M, Families of Choice, Family, Family Feels, Fluff, Gen, Holidays, Humor, Lucifer Feels, Lucifer is Annoying Chloe Again, Shippy Gen, Trixie Decker & Lucifer Morningstar Bonding, Trixie Decker & Lucifer Morningstar Friendship, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-12
Updated: 2017-12-12
Packaged: 2019-02-13 18:44:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12990237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheXWoman/pseuds/RunningInHeels
Summary: Chloe catches Lucifer and Trixie eating her annual classroom Christmas cookies.





	Little Finger

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place sometime after 3x08, _Chloe Does Lucifer_.

The heat of the oven overwhelmed the house, mixing with the already temperate winter weather outside and it risked tipping comfortable warmth into sweltering. It was evening, but not late enough to bring in the cool air, and Chloe fought with the air conditioner switch, blowing strands of blonde hair from her forehead while she pressed buttons up and down, yearning for that rush of icy air from the vents.

“What is your freaking problem,” she muttered to the blank interface as she mashed a button blindly. “I swear to God, Maze, if you broke the air conditioner again…”

Finally, the right combination of buttons let forth a whoosh through the hallway and Chloe let out a long sigh, her eyes fluttering shut as she allowed the cold air to lick across the back of her neck, stealing a moment of respite from what felt like an endless day.

Then, from the kitchen: a giggle, a mutter, and the tell-tale crunch of baked flour and sugar between teeth.

“No. No, no, no…” Chloe spun around and sprang down the hall to round into the kitchen. The Christmas tree slouched in the corner of the living room, a slightly malformed twist of needles that Trixie had insisted on bringing home. The string of lights twinkled warmly, casting shadows from the old family ornaments jumbled together with the ones Trixie had cut out of paper at school. The tree caught Chloe’s eye for a moment and filled her heart with that comfortable familiarity of family before her gaze shifted to the kitchen. Trixie sat on the island, her legs crossed in front of her as she sucked a large smear of chocolate frosting from her fingers. Lucifer stood near her as he pried a half-broken snowflake cookie from a baking pan between them.

“What are you doing!” 

They both froze, hands literally caught in the cookie jar, Trixie’s brown eyes rounding in terror as she stared at her mother before she narrowed a glare at Lucifer. Lucifer was less alarmed, finally snapping part of the cookie off and defiantly shoving it into his mouth.

“Did you two seriously eat the cookies I just baked?”

“Lucifer said it was okay,” Trixie accused, her frosting-stained finger pointing at him as if Chloe didn’t know who she referred to. Lucifer chewed the bit of cookie thoughtfully.

“Just the broken ones, Detective. No need for all the yelling.”

Chloe strode into the kitchen, her fists balled at her sides. “Beatrice, get off the counter. Now.” Chloe had told her not to sit there a dozen times, but between Lucifer and Maze, it hadn’t stuck. Trixie’s chocolate stained mouth bowed into a guilty frown as she pushed herself to the ledge and she tugged on Lucifer’s sleeve. Chloe watched the small interaction between them; the confused look he shot her, Trixie’s exasperated sigh in return, and then a moment of understanding before Lucifer picked her up delicately, like she was a foul-smelling sock, and brought her off the counter and onto the floor. Trixie came around the corner and stood next to him, her fingers still grasping his shirt sleeve. From the outside she would seem like a nervous child, wracked with guilt for her wrong doing and fearful of the punishment that might follow, clinging to Lucifer, seeking a blind sense of comfort.

Chloe knew better, though. He wasn’t a safety blanket. He was a human shield.

“You _know_ those are for your school party,” Chloe said, and Trixie let her grasp on Lucifer’s sleeve go, knowing that her mother could see right through her.

“But Mommy, Lucifer said-”

“I don’t care what Lucifer said.” Chloe raised her eyes from her child to Lucifer’s gentle smirk, and the cheerfulness dropped from his eyes as he realized she certainly did care what he said. “Room. Now. We’ll talk about this in a little bit.”

Trixie balled up her own fists and let out a disgruntled sigh as she marched past her mother and disappeared into her bedroom. Once the door clicked shut, Chloe let her shoulders drop and she moved into the kitchen, coming up next to Lucifer as he grabbed another piece of cookie to bring to his lips. Chloe gently smacked his hand.

“How now, Detective, you’ve gone and upset the little creature. There are plenty of cookies to go around.”

“That’s not the point, Lucifer.” She sighed and rested her hip against the counter as she stared down at the cookie carnage. Most of the cookies remained intact, half decorated, though remnants of their fallen brethren cluttered the countertop. “I asked you to help decorate them, not help eat them.”

Lucifer’s lips moved in confusion and he lowered the piece of cookie back onto the pan. He dusted the crumbs off his fingers and straightened his blazer subconsciously. “My apologies. I didn’t see the sense in such a monotonous task when the child clearly preferred to indulge in sweets rather than stare at them.”

“Lucifer…” Chloe rolled her eyes as she moved around the counter to grab a sponge from the sink and proceeded to clean up the mess on the countertop. Lucifer stared at her, his brow ruffled in concern, and Chloe did her best to ignore it. Sometimes, he looked at her like he was observing an alien whose customs and actions he didn’t quite understand, and, in turn, she often couldn’t figure out how to speak his language. “This is part of our Christmas tradition, Lucifer. We bake cookies for her class, and we decorate them, and then she eats them with her classmates. The fun isn’t in keeping them to herself, it’s in sharing them with her friends.”

He did it again: gave her that look like she talked nonsense, as if all he could hear was the horn sound adults made in Charlie Brown cartoons. Truth be told, Lucifer had been acting strange the whole week, ever since he popped in one evening to find Chloe and Trixie decorating the Christmas tree. Chloe had been surprised when he accepted her invitation to help with the cookies that evening, since she extended the invitation out of friendly courtesy without expectation. It became clear as soon as he showed up that he had never baked a cookie in his life.

“I suppose it didn’t occur to me quite that way,” Lucifer admitted. His eyes dropped almost bashfully to the counter, or maybe it was just the way the Christmas tree lights reflected off his features. 

Chloe paused her cleaning to brace her palm against the lip of the counter. “Have you ever celebrated Christmas before?”

To her surprise he let out a gruff laugh, as if she’d just referenced an inside joke, except she wasn’t privy to it. Her own silence settled him, and he glanced at her as he cleared his throat carefully. “I can’t say I have. Where I come from, Christmas wasn’t exactly, well, complimentary to my lifestyle.”

This time it was Chloe that laughed, a confused chuckle that seemed to catch him off guard. She sobered herself and covered her mouth gently as she stared up at him. “Yeah, right, the Devil celebrating Christmas and all, I guess I forgot.” She hadn’t forgotten, exactly; she just hoped to get a glimpse of something before his Devil persona was created, some small part of his history that may have informed his life in some way. 

“Precisely.” His face lit up again, as if it was a good explanation.

Chloe knew, if there was such a thing, it was foolish of her to think he may confide in her about it. Lucifer never talked about his life before, at least not in any way that made sense. It didn’t stop her from wishing one day he would.

“Well, I’m sure this is all about as boring for you as playing Monopoly,” she noted, annoyed at her voice for betraying how slightly wounded she was. “You didn’t have to come.”

“I wanted to,” he said, a little too quickly, catching himself with a breath, and Chloe gave him a guarded stare. “Contrary to your belief, Detective, I actually do enjoy spending time with you and your… charming progeny.” She smiled thinly and shook her head as she grabbed the sponge again and began rubbing away at a particularly stubborn smear of frosting. 

“I will admit, I don’t grasp the human obsession with repetitive holiday customs,” Lucifer continued. “And I’ve never felt as if I belonged around that kind of thing. But if all of this makes you happy, well, I suppose I should be happy, too.”

Chloe’s eyes brightened, although she didn’t look up at him, instead simply enjoying the comfortable silence that followed his comment. She brushed a pile of crumbs into her palm and then abandoned them in the sink before she rinsed off her hands.

“Listen, Lucifer… I don’t know what your usual Christmas plans are, and to be honest I probably don’t ever want to know. But I would… I mean, Trixie would love if you spent Christmas with us.” She tried to force it out as casually as possible, fighting down a warmth that threatened to burn her cheeks, unable to blame it on the heat of the oven now that the air conditioner had considerably cooled the kitchen. When she finally turned around, Lucifer stared at her, his head tilted to the side, his dark eyes probing her own as they met.

“I couldn’t possibly impose.”

“It wouldn’t be an imposition,” she replied, her heart dropping in her chest as she realized she would honestly be disappointed if he turned her down. “It’s not a big deal, I swear. Just… Opening presents under the tree, I make dinner, and we watch a few bad Christmas movies.”

He didn’t respond right away, and Chloe wondered if he was trying to come up with a way to politely decline, or if he was just seriously considering it.

“Will Detective Douche be in attendance?”

Chloe leaned back against the sink. “No. He’s having his own Christmas with Trixie over the weekend.” Quiet settled between them again, and Chloe pushed herself off the counter and took a couple steps toward him, her head tilted back to look up at him. “The most important tradition, for us anyway, is being with family.”

“Are you saying… You consider me family, Detective?” Lucifer’s brow furrowed and confusion clouded his eyes. Chloe felt a twinge inside of her that may have been her heart breaking a little.

“Yeah, I guess that’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“Well.” He paused, breaking her gaze to stare down at the counter once again. “If you don’t mind changing your silly holiday rituals to accommodate me. And especially if there will be more cookies involved.”

He picked his abandoned piece of cookie up off the pan, gripping it between two fingers, and Chloe shot forward, plucked it from his grasp and shoved it into her mouth smoothly. Lucifer’s lips parted in offense, and she chewed it slowly before waving him away from the pan. “We need to finish decorating these.”

Lucifer nodded obediently as he picked up a tube of frosting and stared at it like it was an ancient, confusing artifact. “I do hope being family does not come with babysitting obligations,” he noted.

“Seriously, Lucifer? The less time you spend unattended with Trixie, the better off we all are. I can live with a lot less ‘The Devil made me do it’ excuses.”

“I didn’t make her do anything. The urchin is certainly clever enough to make her own misguided decisions. I simply illuminate the possibilities.”

“Oh, please. She has you wrapped around her little finger. _You_ just aren’t _clever_ enough to figure it out yet.”

The distinct sound of Trixie’s door opening squeaked down the hallway, and Chloe fell silent as Trixie padded back into the kitchen. The little girl stared up at her mother with a look of angelic innocence, her hands clasped gracefully in front of her.

“Mommy, I’m sorry. Can I help Lucifer decorate the cookies? I promise I won’t eat any more.”

Lucifer frowned deeply, and Chloe rolled her eyes, gesturing for Trixie to come back to the counter. Chloe picked her up and seated her back on the countertop before she picked one of the half-decorated cookies off the baking pan and held it out to her.

Trixie glanced between her mother and Lucifer, as if waiting to find out if she was being lured into a trap. “But you said I’m supposed to save them to share with my friends.”

“Yeah, I did…” Chloe nodded slowly. “And we’ve done it the same way every year. But you know, Monkey, things are different this year. Maybe it’s time we start some new traditions.”

“Okay…” Trixie pondered for a moment before she reached out and snatched the cookie out of her mother’s hand before Chloe had the chance to change her mind. “And Lucifer _is_ my friend.”

Lucifer looked alarmed and Chloe snorted a laugh as she leaned into him, just enough for their shoulders to brush together. “That’s right. Isn’t it, Lucifer?”

Instead of responding, Lucifer grabbed a cookie and shoved it in his mouth. He chewed thoughtfully as Chloe and Trixie stared at him. “What?” he finally sputtered through a mouthful of crumbs. “The offspring said it was okay.”

“See?” Chloe lifted her hand, wagging her pinky finger at him.

“Hardly,” Lucifer replied evenly, although Chloe could see the corner of his lips lift into a smile.


End file.
